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Travel News You Can Use
By Cynthia David
Along the northeastern seaboard with big cities like New York anticipating its fair share of snowflakes this winter, the Big Apple certainly has come up with a plan on how to have fun during the frosty season. From January through early February, traditionally a low season for international visitor arrivals, you’ll find restaurants, theatres and popular sightseeing venues receiving more attention. The city’s tourism office is preparing to roll out a crop of special discounted programs. Participating restaurants will be offering prix-fixe menus with two-course lunches and three-course dinners across all five boroughs during NYC Restaurant Week. Broadway tickets from select shows will be available in a fabulous 2-for-1 tickets promo during NYC Broadway Week. And for sleeps, there are hotel discounts too. Check out NYC Hotel Week, running from January 2 to February 9, 2025. nyctourism.com/restaurantweek; nyctourism.com/broadwayweek; nyctourism.com/must-see-week and nyctourism.com/nyc-hotel-week/
Move over modern kings and queens, a new exhibition at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec takes visitors on an epic 6,500-year journey to meet the First Royals of Europe. Learn how individuals in the ancient societies of southeastern Europe expanded their power through wealth, trade, ritual, ceremony and warfare to become the first royals. The more than 700 rare and unique objects on display, collected from 11 countries, date from 2,500 to 8,000 years old. Marvel at ancient ceramic figurines, copper axe heads, bronze helmets and iron swords, along with early amber, gold and glass jewellery. Visitors can learn even more by playing the Metal Masters trivia game. First Royals of Europe runs until January 19, 2025. historymuseum.ca/first-royals
Art and science collide in exhibitions across Southern California during the third annual PST ART, the largest art event in the U.S., on now through February. Topics range from biotechnology and indigenous sci-fi to the future of artificial intelligence. At the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Rising Signs: The Medieval Science of Astrology, explores how the 12 signs of the zodiac in the night sky and movement of the planets influenced daily life and health during the Middle Ages, including practices such as planting crops, picking flowers and bloodletting. Rising Signs closes January 5. getty.edu/museum; pst.art
A massive concrete eyesore in downtown Hamburg’s St. Pauli district has been transformed into an urban oasis. Built in 1942 by the Nazis, the menacing anti-aircraft bunker considered too big to demolish is now an architectural treasure. Five new floors festooned with nearly 5,000 trees host a REVERB by Hard Rock hotel, restaurants, a memorial for Second World War victims and a rooftop garden boasting a spectacular view of Germany’s second largest city. Visitors can reach the green roof by climbing 335 stairs or by tackling the 560-metre-long “mountain path” that winds around the building’s exterior. hamburgbunker.com or bunker-stpauli.de/en
The Denver Art Museum has gone wild over Wild Things, an exhibition featuring more than 400 works by beloved New York artist Maurice Sendak. The exhibit highlights original paintings from Sendak’s award-winning 1963 children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. Over a 65-year career, Sendak’s stories and whimsical illustrations promoted courage, adventure, resilience and curiosity. He was born in 1928 to Polish-Jewish immigrants and began his work as a mostly self-taught illustrator, later branching out into designing theatre sets and collaborating on films. Alongside Sendak’s work, Wild Things features works from artists that inspired him, from William Blake to Walt Disney. Wild Things runs through February 17, 2025 in the museum’s Hamilton Building. denverartmuseum.org
An important work by a distinguished New York artist with a Nova Scotia connection has been jointly acquired by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the National Gallery of Canada. Joan Jonas’s Moving Off the Land II premiered at MoMA in New York earlier this year as part of her Good Night Good Morning retrospective. It will make its Canadian debut in Halifax next summer. Jonas says the work was inspired by the more than 50 summers she’s spent by the ocean on Cape Breton Island. Through video, print, theatre structures, cast glass and Murano glass mirrors, the multimedia installation portrays the ocean as a threatened space, a place of myths and transformative encounters with wildlife. Agns.ca
One of the greatest masterpieces in London’s National Gallery has returned to public display following a 14-month restoration guided by the latest scientific imaging and analysis. The Judgement of Paris, painted around 1632, is one of Peter Paul Rubens’ best-known works. It shows mythical figure Paris deciding which goddess, Venus, Minerva or Juno, is the fairest. Imaging shows how Rubens altered his painting and subsequent restorations after the Flemish painter died in 1640. After cleaning, the gallery’s conservation department decided to make the changes visible, including uncovering “ghostly” cherubs, as they remain part of the painting’s history. The Gallery has produced a video of the restoration process. nationalgallery.org.uk
Seabourn, a leader in ultra-luxury ocean cruises, has turned its newest expedition ship, Seabourn Pursuit, into a floating art gallery. More than 700 custom artworks grace the 264-passenger ship, inspired by the spirit of exploration and adventure. London-based studio Double Decker worked with artists, designers and fabricators across the globe to produce these unique pieces, from a wall sculpture of metal bottle tops to photographs of tropical flowers encased in ice. Popular destinations for Seabourn Pursuit, known for fully inclusive yacht-like experiences, include Buenos Aires, Tahiti, Easter Island and Antarctica. Visit seabourn.com
To celebrate Amsterdam’s 750th birthday, the city’s grand hotel De L’Europe has unveiled a collection of suites inspired by The Netherlands’ greatest talent in art, film, design and fashion. The 14 suites occupy an entire wing of the hotel nicknamed ‘t Huys, or “house.” Book a stay in the sunny yellow Van Gogh Museum suite, the dramatic red rooms created by design duo Sisters Janssen, a suite with walls papered with fashion photos by RVDK Couture or one filled with treasures from jeweller and sculptor Bibi van der Velden. deleurope.com/t-huys/
Travel expert Cynthia David provides updates on the tourism industry in this curated collection that appears in every issue.
